WARNER HUTCHISON

WARNER HUTCHISON

Warner Hutchison (b. 1930: Denver, CO) is Prof. Emeritus and former music department chairman, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM. He attended the Lamont School of Music, University of Denver; Rockmont College; Southwestern Seminary, Ft. Worth (Bach. Sacred Mus); University of North Texas (M. Mus; PhD, composition); Eastman School of Music; and Indiana University. He studied with composers Samuel Adler, Merrill Ellis, Roy Harris, and Kent Kennan. He taught French horn, composition, theory, music history and was Director of Bands and Brasses at Houghton College, NY and Union University, Jackson, TN, and taught horn, theory, composition, and music literature at NMSU for 29 years. In 1986, he was a visiting lecturer in 20th c. music, art, and dance for one term at the Univ. of London. From 1972 to 1979 he edited a journal of papers by the American Society of Univ. Composers (now Society of Composers, Inc) and edited textbooks on counterpoint and electronic music for Wm .C. Brown Co.

He was a member of the French horn section in orchestras in Denver, CO;Denton, TX; San Angelo, TX; Rochester, NY; Knoxville, TN; and Las Cruces, NM.

His catalogue of over 270 works since 1950 includes orchestra, band, choral,opera, and chamber music as well as electronic music and incidental musicfor plays. Over 50 publications are with Belwin, Bourne, Carl Fischer, European American, Kjos, Lorenz, Manduca, Shawnee, Seesaw, Presser, TRN, Tuba/Euphonium Press and others. He appeared as guest composer for the Meet the Composer series in San Diego and San Francisco as well as symposia at various universities and music schools, and was one of ten composers selected nationwide for the 1994 Ernest Bloch Symposium.

Awards and commissions have led two MacDowell Colony fellowships, grants from the Ford Foundation, National Endowment, Music Teachers NationalAssoc. (MTNA), NM Arts council, and a nomination for a Pulitzer Prize. Premieres include Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, and Carnegie Hall.

Large works include a horn concerto (1997); a band symphony; two extended works for chorus and winds: Mass (1992) and Paso por Aqui (1999); two chamber operas; and orchestra works: Prairie Sketch (1956); Prologue (1957); The Sacrilege of Alan Kent (1971)- monodrama for baritone, orchestra and tape; Death-Words from the Cherokee (1976)-soprano, orchestra, tape; Varied Carols (1986); The Desert Shall Bloom As the Rose (1988). Incidental electronic music for plays includes The Miracle Worker (1965); Antigone (1974) and Equus (1979). Significant chamber music includes a woodwind quintet (1955); Homage to Jackson Pollock (1973)-soloist on 31 percussion instruments, tape and slides; Ceremonies (1974)- ballet for oboe, amplified and prepared piano, tape, dancers; Requiem for A. Lincoln (1976)- two performers, amplified and prepared piano, tape; Narnian Suite (1977)-chorus, horn, percussion; two brass quintets based on the Book of Revelation, Apocalypse I and V ( 1979, 1988); and Poe-Songs (1995)-soprano, horn, and vibraphone.

Published works include Prairie Sketch for orchestra and The Sacrilege of Alan Kent-monodrama for baritone, orchestra, and tape (both published by Seesaw Music Corp); The Desert Shall Bloom As the Rose (Kjos Music); for band- Dirge and Hosanna (Belwin); Fantasy Variations; Franklin Mountain Suite a As the Stars Forever (all from Kjos Music); Paso por Aqui for soloists, chorus, wind ensemble (TRN) and numerous works for choirs, chamber music,and electronic music published by Seesaw, European American, Kjos, et al.

CDs include As the Stars Forever and They Flew Away on two albums by the USAF Heritage of America concert band. Other CD’s include Apocalypse I for brass quintet, tam-tam, and bells (Crystal Records); Apocalypse V for brass quintet, tam-tam, bells, keyboard (AUR Records); Poe-Songs for soprano, horn and vibraphone (Capstone); Suite for Clarinet Choir (Encore).

A permanent collection of compositions along with papers, reviews, notices, correspondence, et al are in the Rio Grande Historical Collections, New Mexico State University Library Archives, Las Cruces, NM.